'world records' on Serious Eats

[Photograph: Doug Keeler/Midway Driller] Bob Leikam and his crew may have a few extra slices on their hands. This Saturday they worked 24 hours straight, trying to break the world record for most pizzas cooked in a single-day stretch. They made 6,838 twelve-inch pepperoni pizzas, and a Guinness Book of World Records representative was on hand to certify their achievement. It was "an extraordinary accomplishment for ordinary people," said the Guinness rep, Danny Girton Jr. Get the whole story here.... More

It's good to have goals. And for Gerald Barkley, a math and science teacher at a community college in Michigan, last weekend it was to make the world's first 350-pound meatball. "It started as a joke," his colleague told the South Bend Tribune (you know, just one of those, ha, what if we made a 350-pound ball of meat? jokes) inspired by a couple of major meatball records set last year: first on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was later bested by Nonni's Italian Eatery in New Hampshire. More

"Iran failed on Friday to register the sandwich as the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it—before it was measured." [Reuters]... More

When I think of places to go for buffets, I tend to think "Vegas!" and not really ever "Ohio!"—but the Holmes County Amish Flea Market in Walnut Creek, Ohio, recently claimed the Guinness World Record for World's Largest Buffet. The Cleveland Scene checked out the carnage: The scrumptious-looking fried chicken is gone by 11:40. Roast beef is history by noon. "This was a helluva long way to come for beans," grumbles one old-timer, as he chisels bits of meat loaf off the bottom of an aluminum pan. Finally, by 3:30—with hundreds of people still in line—carnivores are completely out of luck. To compensate, volunteers begin giving away copies of the event's $15 cookbook; nonetheless, nearly 50 pissed-off diners eventually demand... More